Earthquake damages from the Hittite period were detected

Excavations initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2009 continue in May and June every year.

Kırşehir Ahi Evran University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Department of Archeology Faculty Member and Head of Excavation Japanese Associate Professor Kimiyoshi Matsumura told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they have been working on architecture from the Hittite period since last year.

Reminding that they found small pieces of cuneiform tablets from the Hittite period during the excavations carried out in the region last year, Matsumura stated that the work was successful because these pieces gave important information about that period.

Matsumura stated that this year's excavations aimed to reveal the Hittite period architectures inside the city wall and to explore the outer part of the city wall.

Stating that they started excavations on the slope where the wall is located for the first time this year, Matsumura said, "We did not know exactly what will be found here, but as a result, we found the continuation of the wall, which is thought to belong to the Young Iron Age, namely the Cimmerians. We found 15 arrowheads during the excavation. We think these are arrowheads used in war at that time."

It is thought that there was a great earthquake during the Hittites period

Matsumura stated that they continue to work on the architecture of the Hittite period, and they found that the walls made of stone in one of the rooms built in the form of a stepped and terrace were destroyed, and said:

"Because the walls collapsed to one side, it is probably related to the earthquake. Thinking that this architecture was destroyed due to the earthquake, we talked to experts working on earthquakes in Japan and Turkey. They said that this place was destroyed as a result of the earthquake. We are continuing the excavations at Kaman Kalehöyük. There, too, a trace of an earthquake was discovered in the 15th century BC. Since the architecture here belongs to almost the same period, we think that these buildings were destroyed in the earthquake. It's hard to say since we're not experts on the severity of the earthquake, but there were large stone foundations and landslides. Since they've all been destroyed, it must have been a pretty big earthquake."

Matsumara added that in the ongoing excavations, a cover belonging to a large storage container called Pitos belonging to the Hittite period was found.

Four culture layers were identified

At the Büklükale site, which consists of two archaeological areas, the "lower city" and the "upper city", four cultural layers were identified during the previous excavations: the Ottoman period in the first layer, the Iron Age in the second layer, the Late Bronze Age in the third layer, and the Old Bronze Age in the fourth layer. .

Especially the glass bottle, cuneiform tablet and panther head dating back to the Hittite Empire were among the important finds unearthed during the excavations in the third layer. Again, a large architectural structure, which was inhabited from the end of the Assyrian Trade Colonies Age to the beginning of the Hittite period and considered to be a palace, was unearthed.

It was determined that the region was an important city center during the Hittite Empire in the second half of 2000 BC. In the "lower city" area, an architecture belonging to the Seljuk period and some Roman materials and coins were found under it, and it was understood that this place was also inhabited during the Roman period.